Cowboys in Chinatown??


http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/9906/...cowboygirl.jpg
found photo/unknown



It's strange......but funny, in a demented sort of way. :)

OK......here are last two. I promise.
Martini anyone?



http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/5443/...inatowncha.jpg
found photo/unknown





MOM!! Is that you?
http://img2.imageshack.us/img2/7494/...ickrhepped.jpg
found photo/unknown



OK, back to murders and suicides.

:previous:
Interesting souvenir photos... hehe! Pretty random and racy imagery for novelty souvenir photos from New Chinatown.

----------


The Biltmore Hotel, 1943. The largest hotel west of Chicago when it opened in 1923. Plus, the site of some Academy Awards ceremonies in the 1930s and 1940s, and was the last place the Black Dahlia was seen alive. Notice the tops of the streetlights, blacked out during WWII.
http://img143.imageshack.us/img143/5...ehotel1943.jpg
USC archive

Oil well in the middle of La Cienega Boulevard near Beverly Boulevard, 1931. There are still oil wells in this area. The Beverly Center Mall, on La Cienega and Beverly, is built in a curve around an active oil well. Beverly Hills High School is also near oil wells.
http://img168.imageshack.us/img168/9...ienega1931.jpg
USC archive

The Knickerbocker Hotel, Hollywood. Some say it's haunted. But a lot happened here over the years. According to Wikipedia, it was built in 1923. Rudolph Valentino was a regular at the bar before his death in 1926. On Halloween 1936, Harry Houdini's widow held her tenth séance to contact the magician on the roof of the hotel. Frances Farmer was arrested in her room at the hotel in 1943, after skipping a visit with her parole officer. D. W. Griffith died in the lobby of the hotel in 1948. The hotel retained its glamor through the 1950s. Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio often met in the hotel bar. Elvis Presley stayed at the hotel while filming "Love Me Tender." In 1962 celebrated Hollywood costume designer Irene, despondent over Gary Cooper's death, committed suicide by jumping from her 11th floor room window. On March 3, 1966 veteran character actor William Frawley (who played "Fred Mertz" on "I Love Lucy") was strolling down Hollywood Boulevard after seeing a film when he suffered a major heart attack. His nurse dragged him to the hotel where he died in the lobby. Contrary to popular belief, Frawley did not live in the hotel at the time. Although Frawley had spent nearly 30 years living in a suite upstairs, he had moved to the nearby El Royale Apartments several months before. In the mid-1960's, the hotel played an important part in the movie, "The Graduate," as the scene of Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft's first romantic encounter. By the late 1960s, the neighborhood had deteriorated, and the hotel became a residence primarily for drug addicts and prostitutes. In 1970, a renovation project converted the hotel into housing for senior citizens; it continues in this capacity today. In 1999, a plaque honoring Griffith was placed in the lobby.
http://jpg3.lapl.org/pics45/00072196.jpg
From LAPL.org

My god, I had no idea all that happened at the Hollywood Knickerbocker. That place just HAS to be haunted.
I can imagine the ghosts literally bumping into each other nonstop.

That's a great photograph of the Biltmore Hotel you posted sopas_ej.
Years ago I attended a function in the Biltmore Hotel ballroom.
I walked into the lobby and it was like being transported back to the 1920s.
It's such a magnificent place....so baroque and luxurious.
It's a moment in my life I will never forget.

Now for a moment I'd rather forget.
My very first job in Los Angeles was at the Beverly Center.
The building is such a behemoth. The joke back then, was that the
Beverly Center was the box the Pacific Design Center came in.
But I had NO idea it harbored a working oil well !!

(I just googled Beverly Center oil well and sure enough there it is)

Sopas_ej, you're a veritable font of information. :) .....or is it 'fount'?

Speaking of suicides (poor Irene jumping from the Knickerbocker)



Below is a shocking photograph from the USC digital archives.
The caption was:

A suicide jumper in mid-air at 6th and Hill Street.

http://img228.imageshack.us/img228/2...ejumpermid.jpg

^ Do you know the story on that?

Don't wanna be morbid but I think that's a great pic.

Hehe and I don't know if it's "font" or "fount," I've actually seen it both ways. But naah, I've read a lot over the years and continue to look things up on the internet regarding old Los Angeles. I have books like "Haunted Hollywood" and "California Babylon," among others, where I get a lot of information from..

^^^oops... I meant A shocking photograph, not AN shocking photograph.


And to answer your question 'ThreeHundred'...
no I don't have any details about the mid-air suicide jumper.

Sorry about the missing pics. I'll try to replace them-

below: 1949 Cinegrill at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.
Note the cool Western Air Lines sign.



http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/9...egrillholl.jpg
usc digital archives

Here's one more before I leave for the holiday weekend.

This is one of my favorites. I believe it's from the mid 1960s.

http://img176.imageshack.us/img176/8...0sralphcra.jpg
Ralph Crane for LIFE magazine

Be sure to see, in my opinion, the best of the color photographs in the previous post. (#260)


A very blue Los Angeles mid 1960s.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/4...0616lifem1.jpg
Ralph Crane for Life Magazine.

http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/1...lphcranenh.jpg
LIFE Magazine

I believe this is Dodger Stadium under construction. I could be wrong.


http://img134.imageshack.us/img134/7...info1960sa.jpg
LIFE

One more color photograph from the mid 1960s.


http://img233.imageshack.us/img233/6...ifetr1960s.jpg
LIFE

Thanks Ethereal!

You're welcome.

Great photos, ethereal! It's cool to see old color photos, it makes it easier to imagine what things might've looked like in real life back then.

-------------------------

From the USC archive, the Pacific Southwest Trust and Savings Bank building in Pasadena in 1925. This building still exists.
http://img44.imageshack.us/img44/303...uthwesttru.jpg

^^^That's a beautiful building.

A beautiful art deco Ralph's 1949.
Does anyone know where this was located (sopas_ej?)


http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/5...949ssilber.jpg
juliewilsonsworld

Another art deco gem can be seen in the distance on the right.
It's the department store Bullocks Wilshire.

The photo is from 1954


http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/9...uliewilson.jpg
juliewilsonsworld

Here's another photo from June 1954.


It's a view of Hill Street near 6th Street, downtown L.A.

http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8...ear6thstju.jpg
METRO Library archives





below: Broadway Place and Main Street in the 1940s.


http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/8...yplaceandm.jpg
METRO Library archives





below: Downtown, 6th and Main.


http://img151.imageshack.us/img151/4...ain1956met.jpg
METRO Library archives





below: Downtown, 7th and Main.

http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/3...yat7thstme.jpg
METRO Library archive

below: Broadway at 11th Street with the Los Angeles Examiner Bldg.



http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/4...yat11thlae.jpg
METRO Library archives




below: A block north of the previous photo, Broadway at Olympic Blvd.
You can still see the L.A. Examiner Bldg in the distance.


http://img232.imageshack.us/img232/6...yatolympic.jpg
METRO Library archives

:previous:
VERY cool photos, ethereal!

Judging by the very unique, distinctive bases of the lamp posts and the stenciled street sign on the curb, this is somewhere on Wilshire Blvd. in Beverly Hills...

Just now, looking at a book I have, it says that it was at the northeast corner of Wilshire Blvd. and Crescent Drive. It was designed by Stiles O. Clements, who also designed, among other notable buildings, the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood, the Wiltern and our beloved, long-ago demolished Richfield building in downtown LA. The picture in the book I have is black-and-white and small, so, this color photo is really amazing to me.

^^^ I actually didn't expect you to have an answer for that one sopas_ej.
And here you are, with an answer AND many details. :)

That book you have must be........magic. (cue spooky music)

I'm back.

I was thinking about the Ralphs photo.

I would LOVE to see a night version.
Can you imagine the lighting scheme on the center tower/pylon.
The two sides are obviously translucent.
I imagine a spot shooting straight up the white surface,
especially in the center along the vertical lines.

The Ralphs logos were obviously in red (with indirect lighting?)
Perhaps the translucent areas, I mentioned before, were also red.
And it looks as if there were rotating R's on the corners of the building.

That black and white photo you mentioned sopas_ej ;
is it by chance a night shot?

Sorry to say, the photo in the book is a day shot. But I can imagine what you described, and I think that would look really awesome.

According to the book I have, Stiles O. Clements designed the buildings for Ralphs with the company sign and building as one structure.

Clement's design was obviously meant to impress at night.

Do you think these night photos are hidden away in some obscure file
in the Stiles O. Clements archive (if there is an archive)?

http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/5...1940lineup.jpg
unknown

In a dramatic photograph, a Ford Tri-Motor buzzes City Hall.



http://img222.imageshack.us/img222/8...motoroverc.jpg
USC Digital archive

.......even more dramatic.



http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/7...airplanem1.jpg
unknown



noir......sweet....noir.
I'd love to be in that airplane.

Like Howard Hughes and Kate Hepburn? ;)

Thanks for posting the Ralphs locations, I totally creamed my pants when I saw that. Now I know that the building at 3rd Street Promenade and Wilshire in Santa Monica was once a Ralphs! It's now a Barnes & Noble, with the interior totally gutted of course, and that tower outside modified. I thought maybe it was originally a Woolworth's or Penney's or something.

This is by far one of the most spectacular threads I have seen on ssp. Thanks for all the work!!!!

The City of Los Angeles' float in the 1946 Rose Parade.



http://img170.imageshack.us/img170/2...parade1946.jpg
unknown

Wow, that is really cool. They really took pride in their buildings. I wonder how many are still standing....

Is this the tunnel to Toontown? Naah, it goes clear to Pasadena.
Figueroa Street Tunnels, 1938 (pre-Pasadena Freeway)
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/7246/1938bx.jpg
From USC archive


Fair Oaks and Colorado, 1954, Pasadena. I see the 35er existed even back then.
http://jpg2.lapl.org/pics41/00055293.jpg
From lapl.org

^^^I've always loved the Figueroa Tunnels.

I had to google 35er to see what you were talking about sopas_ej.
I see it's a bar still in business after all those years.

Why is it called 35er I wonder?

I did a spot check of about 10 of those Ralph's buildings via google earth street view, and unfortunately only one of them I looked for was the building remotely distinguishable.... the one at 2601 Pasadena Ave Los Angeles, Ca. (the middle-right side of that huge Ralph's picture with all of the store buildings.)

http://i74.photobucket.com/albums/i2...p/untitled.jpg

I said it a month ago and I'll say it again: this thread is awesome. I've got Chinatown playing and some bourbon on the rocks within fingers' reach.... the noirish mood is intoxicating :cool:

.......your post is intoxicating kznyc2k. ;)

COLD WAR NOIR.


below: City Hall tower February 6th, 1951.


http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/5...lescityhal.jpg
l.a. times





http://img186.imageshack.us/img186/9...lescityh19.jpg
l.a. times


How cool is this....an atomic flash from 300 miles away.

COLD WAR NOIR continued



Scenes from 'Kiss Me Deadly' 1955.

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/442...medeadly17.jpg
mgm



below: Opening a pandora's box of RADIUM at a beach house in Malibu.


http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/9...kiss002box.jpg
mgm



below: A radiation facial.


http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/6...smedeadly1.jpg
mgm




http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/6...0915kissme.png
mgm




http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/6...915kissme2.png
mgm



http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/398...medeadly19.jpg
mgm




http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/479...medeadly20.jpg
mgm

Escaping the beach house........or did they?

^^^
Funny, when I saw the pics your posted of the Atomic Blast, I thought of "Kiss Me Deadly," and sure enough, your next post was just that. :)

_______________________________________________________________

Here's the Ralphs on 3rd Street and Wilshire Blvd. in Santa Monica; it was designed by Stiles O. Clements, and built in 1939-1940.
http://jpg1.lapl.org/pics45/00042489.jpg
From lapl.org

Here it is now, courtesy of Google Earth. It's now a Barnes & Noble bookstore, and 3rd Street is now the Third Street Promenade. It's all gutted, and they added an upper story.
http://img195.imageshack.us/img195/6...ndwilshire.jpg

I don't know why it's called the 35er. I've walked by it many times but have never gone in.

Here's a contemporary shot of it courtesy Google Earth. I couldn't get the same angle/perspective from the 1954 photo, though.
http://img268.imageshack.us/img268/4328/35er.jpg

^^^The comparison shots of the Ralphs are too cool. THX for posting them PHX31 and sopas_ej.

I don't know what it is about comparison shots that I find so fascinating.

Accident at Olympic and Grand 1951.
(I thought it looked like Pink's Hotdogs)


http://img245.imageshack.us/img245/7...tolympican.jpg
usc digital archive


^^^That's a very attractive policeman. ;)
(Now days, 3/4th of them are obese.....at least in Chicago)

:previous:
Great pic, ethereal! It does kinda look like Pink's.

I concur. ;)

Washington Blvd. underpass in 1953 before widening.


http://img171.imageshack.us/img171/9...tonblvdund.jpg
usc digital archives

Can't believe that Barnes & Noble in Santa Monica used to be that Ralphs. I used to go there all the time. Oh how I miss LA.

Since we've been discussing all the Ralph's I should have posted the following pics....
(I forgot I had them)



below: Ralphs at 5615 Wilshire.

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/4...615wilshir.jpg
unknown




below: Ralphs at 5711 Hollywood blvd.

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/8...ollywoodbl.jpg
unknown



below: Ralphs at 6121 Pico blvd.

http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/2...icoblvdspa.jpg
unknown



below: Ralphs at 2024 E. 10th St.


http://img199.imageshack.us/img199/9...ongbeachsp.jpg
unknown

below: Ralphs at 3rd and Vermont.


http://img29.imageshack.us/img29/525...sralphs3rd.jpg
eBay / 2012